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Team Canada

Minor Transactions: 01/03/2024

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The hockey world is fulling pulling into the second half of the 2023-24 season, with the 100th anniversary of the Spengler Cup being awarded to the tourney’s host team, HC Davos, and the semi-finals of the World Juniors Championship set to begin soon. This means plenty of exciting time for international hockey, as well as plenty of roster moves, as players return from their national team back to their league play. As always, we’ll cover notable transactions here.

  • Philadelphia Flyers prospect Alexis Gendron has seen his QMJHL rights traded from the Gatineau Olympiques to the Drummondville Voltigeurs, with Gatineau receiving three draft picks in return. This must have been what Philadelphia wanted to see, as they’ve assigned Gendron back to the QMJHL for the rest of the season. The 20-year-old, former seventh-round draft pick was previously playing in his first professional season, recording five goals and seven points in 17 AHL games. Gendron has previously played four seasons in the QMJHL – including three with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada – totaling 141 points in 160 games in the league.
  • Team Canada’s Spengler Cup team has returned a quartet of players to their AHL squad. This includes the Laval Rockets’ Nicolas Beaudin, the Belleville Senators’ Dillon Heatherington, the Manitoba Moose’s Thomas Milic, and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ Ty Smith. Milic appeared in one game between the pipes for Team Canada, while Smith led the team’s defensemen with five points. Heatherington and Beaudin only combined for one assist through the tournament’s four games.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Morning Notes: Määttä, Celebrini, Zegras

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The Detroit Red Wings have announced that defenseman Olli Määttä will be unavailable for tonight’s game against the New Jersey Devils. Määttä is dealing with an upper-body injury that forced him out of last night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. There’s no word on a timetable for Määttä to return to the lineup but that could be provided in the coming days as Detroit gets set to head into the break. The Red Wings won’t be action again until Wednesday against the Minnesota Wild and an update should be provided before that time.

A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Määttä has settled into a role with the Red Wings since signing with the team as a free agent back in July 2022. Määttä had bounced around to a few teams after being traded away by the Penguins but has since found a home in Detroit. In 27 games this season, the 29-year-old has a goal and six assists and is +6 while playing almost 15 minutes a night.

In other morning notes:

  • The IIHF has announced that Team Canada forward Macklin Celebrini will not face any supplemental discipline for his boarding incident that occurred in Canada’s second pre-tournament game as they get prepared for this year’s World Junior tournament. Celebrini is projected to be the first overall selection in the 2024 NHL entry draft and would have been a huge loss for Canada had he been suspended. The 17-year-old had two assists in the first half of the game against Switzerland before he was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding. Canada plays their final pre-tournament game today against the United States and will begin the official tournament against Finland on Boxing Day.
  • NHL.com is reporting that Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras could return to the Ducks lineup tonight as they take on the Seattle Kraken. Zegras reportedly practiced yesterday on the Ducks’ top line alongside Alex Killorn and Troy Terry. The 22-year-old has missed the Ducks’ last 20 games with an upper-body injury and would presumably slide into Leo Carlsson’s spot as the top center as Carlsson is being evaluated for an injury as well. The native of Bedford, New York has had a rough start to his season as he started with just a goal and an assist in his first 12 games before going down to injury.

Sabres Appear Unlikely To Send Benson To World Juniors

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Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News is reporting that it seems likely that the Buffalo Sabres will hold on to 18-year-old Zach Benson rather than sending him overseas to play for Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship. Nothing concrete has been decided yet, but as Lysowski writes, the Sabres will likely need the 2023 13th overall pick to fill in for the injured Jeff Skinner.

Hockey Canada is hoping to finalize their roster by the end of this week and purposely left a roster spot vacant because they were hoping to see if an NHL player could be made eligible at some point this week. With Skinner out, the Sabres have lost a top-line left winger and will have to try to fill that void by committee, and Benson could be a big part of that.

Benson has dressed in 20 games thus far this season posting three goals and five assists. While his offensive numbers don’t jump off the page at first glance, his analytics are quite good and he’s done a very good job of driving play at 5 on 5.

The Sabres are dealing with a bunch of injury issues at the moment and likely won’t be able to spare a forward when they are already missing Skinner, Jordan Greenway, Jack Quinn, and Zemgus Girgensons.

TSN’s Darren Dreger also weighed in on the situation and echoed what Lysowski had said. Dreger believes that Benson is not expected to be loaned to Team Canada.

Ducks Recall Robert Hagg, Tristan Luneau Loaned To Team Canada

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Robert Hagg from the AHL. Hagg has spent the bulk of the season in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls where he has dressed in 15 games and has a goal and two assists. The veteran of 338 NHL games signed a one-year deal with the Ducks on July 4th and did spend time in the NHL, however, he has yet to dress in an NHL game for the Ducks.

The 28-year-old was once a promising prospect after he was drafted in the second round of the 2013 NHL entry draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. He made his debut with the Flyers back in 2016-17 and became a full-time NHLer the following year. Hagg stayed in the NHL for six full seasons but bounced around to four different organizations and often found himself to be a healthy scratch. As his career went on teams began to shelter his usage, often giving him the bulk of his starts in the offensive zone to try and set him up for success. This past offseason Hagg was able to secure a one-way NHL contract for the league minimum of $775K, however, thus far he has only seen action in the AHL.

Hagg was recalled to replace rookie defenseman Tristan Luneau who was loaned to Team Canada by the Ducks for the upcoming World Junior Championship. The 19-year-old was the Ducks’ second-round pick in 2022 and was recalled by the club back in November to make his NHL debut. So far this season in seven games, Luneau has a goal and two assists and has averaged almost 18 minutes a night in ice time.

Evening Notes: Red Wings, Penguins, Maharaj

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The Detroit Red Wings have announced the hiring of two new assistant coaches for the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Red Wings have hired Brian Lashoff and Stephane Julien to join the coaching staff of head coach Dan Watson.

Julien had a busy 2022-23 as he led the Sherbrooke Phoenix to a Central Division title with a record of 50-13-3-2 and earned Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) Coach of the Year as well as the General Manager of the Year. He was also an assistant coach for Team Canada’s gold medal effort at the 2023 World Junior Championship. To top it all off Julien was the head coach of Canada’s U18 squad at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Not a bad 12 months.

Lashoff on the other hand was a defenseman for the Griffins for parts of 14 seasons including two Calder Championships in 2013 and 2017. The native of Albany, New York played 628 career games for the Griffins and accumulated 132 points. The 32-year-old announced his retirement from playing in April of this year and will begin his professional coaching career just a few months after officially hanging up his skates.

In other evening notes:

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that Vukie Mpofu is the new director of hockey operations and legal affairs. Newly hired Kyle Dubas made the announcement today on behalf of the franchise. Mpofu’s role will have a wide scope, but his main responsibilities will be to advise and assist the hockey operations department with salary cap compliance, contract negotiations, as well as compliance with the collective bargaining agreement and he will have an active role in the leadership of the Penguins hockey research and development department. The Saskatoon native has spent the past two years with the Los Angeles Kings as the manager of hockey operations and legal affairs and now joins the Penguins as one of Dubas’ first big hires as he builds out a new hockey operations department in Pittsburgh.
  • Sadly, the Anaheim Ducks announced that goaltending coach Sudarshan Maharaj was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has been undergoing chemotherapy in Toronto. Maharaj is planning to continue his treatments and hopes to have a planned surgery. His goal is to then re-join the club after that. In the interim Maharaj and Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek are planning to hire an assistant goaltending coach and will be making an announcement in the not-too-distant future.

Senators Notes: DeBrincat, Holden, Smith, Watson, Hamonic

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With the Ottawa Senators’ post-season press conference occurring this morning, many players gave insights into their futures with the team. The most followed offseason storyline will undoubtedly be Alex DeBrincat, as the 25-year-old gifted sniper is a restricted free agent come July 1. The Michigan-born winger told reporters this morning he’d be “open” to a long-term extension but also noted he wants to take a few months to discuss his future with his agent and his family.

DeBrincat is due a $9MM qualifying offer this summer thanks to the backloaded structure of his previous contract, a three-year deal signed with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2019. If Ottawa and DeBrincat reach a long-term extension, the number wouldn’t seem likely to be much higher (if any higher at all) than that. DeBrincat took a step back offensively during his first season with the Senators, recording 66 points in 82 games after hovering at a point-per-game pace during the previous two seasons.

More from the Senators news cycle this morning:

  • The team has informed defenseman Nick Holden he won’t be back next season, says Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Holden told reporters this morning he plans to test free agency after completing the 10th full season of his NHL career. The 35-year-old played 141 games with the Senators after Ottawa acquired him via trade in 2021, recording seven goals and 28 assists for 35 points while averaging 18:24 per game. With the emergence of rookie Jake Sanderson and the late-season addition of Jakob Chychrun, there was little opportunity remaining for Holden in Ottawa after his role decreased significantly this season.
  • Garrioch also says to expect Senators head coach D.J. Smith to join Team Canada’s coaching staff for the upcoming IIHF Men’s World Championship. This will be two years in a row for Smith on the national team’s coaching staff, also serving as an assistant at last year’s tournament. Before that, Smith’s only international coaching experience with Canada came as an assistant at the 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup.
  • Forward Austin Watson says he played games in March on a broken foot before the team shut him down for the season last week. The 31-year-old grinder amassed nine goals but just two assists in 75 games this season. Watson, an unrestricted free agent this summer, also told reporters “the door isn’t closed” on a reunion with the Senators, although the multi-year contract he desires may not be palatable to the team given his career trajectory.
  • Defender Travis Hamonic clarified that his season-ending injury sustained at the end of March was a knee issue, and he would have attempted a return if Ottawa made it to the playoffs. Hamonic, who is also a pending UFA, finished fourth in scoring among Senators defenders with 21 points in 75 games and recorded a -5 rating.

Canada Wins 2023 World Junior Championship

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Team Canada has won the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, defeating Czechia to win the gold medal. The game-winning goal came off the stick of Arizona Coyotes prospect Dylan Guenther in overtime, ending Czechia’s bid for their first gold since 2001.

It’s Canada’s second consecutive gold medal and their second gold medal in just five months after the delayed 2022 tournament occurred in August. It’s also the second straight tournament in which Canada won in 3-on-3 overtime, with Anaheim Ducks forward Mason McTavish scoring the winner last year.

The 2023 presumptive first-overall pick and tournament MVP, Connor Bedard, finished the tournament with an astonishing 23 points in seven games, leading all other players in the tournament by nine points. He’s now the all-time leader for Canada at the World Juniors and set a single-tournament point record for Canadian players.

It’s a tough loss to swallow for Czechia, who played their hearts out and deserved to get this far in the tournament. Getting their first medal since 2005 is still a great success, and they’ll take home the silver. Goaltender Tomas Suchanek was named to the media All-Star team after posting a .934 save percentage and playing every minute of the tournament for Czechia.

Buffalo Sabres 2022 first-round pick Jiri Kulich led the Czechs in scoring, potting seven goals in seven games and adding two assists.

Afternoon Notes: Schedule, Stone, Sabres, Team Canada Captains, Hershey Bears

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More hockey? You’d be hard-pressed to find a fan who wouldn’t want it. Earlier this week, there had been some discussions about the NHL potentially expanding the season back to an 84 game schedule for the first time since the 1993-94 campaign. Last night on Hockey Night in Canada’s 32 Thoughts segment, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman expanded on those rumors with an idea of what that schedule might look like, and how the league could get there.

In effect, the schedule would be expanded an additional two games to promote intra-division rivalries, such as the one between the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers or the one between the New York Rangers and New York Islanders, both of which have seen their head-to-head matchups drop off in recent years. As Friedman details, the schedule would consist of four games against each of the other teams within the division, three games each against each team in the opposing division, and two against each team in the opposite conference. To balance things out, each team’s slate of preseasons games could be cut down. It doesn’t appear that any change is imminent, however Friedman adds that there is a willingness to discuss the change between the league and the NHLPA, however there hasn’t been much dialogue on the subject recently.

  • Things didn’t look good for Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone last night when he went down in obvious pain during the third period of the team’s game against the New York Islanders. The winger struggled to get off the ice with the assistance of his teammates, but surprisingly was able to come back and join them in the final moments of the game. Unsurprisingly, after the game, Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy was asked about the status of his star forward, telling The Athletic’s Jesse Granger that the hope is Stone’s injury is “just a stinger,” but he wouldn’t know much more until today. Cassidy added that Stone was not 100% when he rejoined the team late in the game. So far, no additional information has come out about Stone’s status. Vegas next plays at home on Monday against the Sabres.
  • Yesterday, the Buffalo Sabres were able to get forward Kyle Okposo back from injury and Jeff Skinner back from suspension, but were without defensemen Owen Power, Jacob Bryson, and Ilya Lyubushkin. The team didn’t have much information on Power or Bryson, and the same holds true today, however according to The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington, Ilya Lyubushkin is set to return tomorrow against Vegas. Noticeably absent from the ice this morning were defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson, but as Harrington adds, both were absent simply for rest purposes.
  • With the World Junior Championship just eight days away, Hockey Canada announced its leadership group for this year’s World Juniors team. Captaining the group will be Seattle Kraken forward and fourth-overall pick in 2022, Shane Wright. Assisting him will be Arizona Coyotes forward Dylan Guenther, Dallas Stars draft pick and current Kamloops Blazers forward Logan Stankoven, Anaheim Ducks draft pick and Quebec Remparts forward Nathan Gaucher, as well as Chicago Blackhawks draft pick and Mississauga Steelheads defenseman Ethan Del Mastro. Canada will kick things off against Czechia on December 26th.
  • Many don’t necessarily think about when an NHL team chooses to recall a player from their affiliate, it could set off a chain reaction of needs within their system, and that’s just what happened with the Washington Capitals and their goaltenders. When Darcy Kuemper went down a couple of weeks ago, the team recalled Hunter Shepard, which Hershey was able to cope with by recalling Clay Stevenson from the ECHL. No problem. But, when Washington also recalled Zachary Fucale yesterday in the wake of Shepard’s upper-body injury, Hershey was forced to sign an emergency back-up to a PTO for their game last night. Today, the Bears were able to smooth things out in net prior to their game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this afternoon, bringing up netminder Tyler Wall from the South Carolina Stingrays, Hershey and Washington’s ECHL affiliate. In a corresponding move, defenseman Martin Has has been sent to South Carolina. While this is a relatively minor move, it does give context for the transactions NHL teams make that sometimes seem to be done just for the sake of doing them.

Snapshots: Guenther, Barkov, Toporowski

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With World Junior camps opening, many expected a handful of NHLers such as Shane Wright, Brandt Clarke and Dylan Guenther to leave their NHL teams for a short time to compete for gold. All three of those players will join their native Canada, making an already formidable squad just that much better. Although Wright and Clarke struggled to find consistent playing time and production with their NHL teams, both ultimately sent to the AHL on conditioning loans, the same cannot be said for Guenther. The 19-year-old, who was selected by the Arizona Coyotes ninth-overall in 2021, has 11 points in 21 games already, playing just over 12 minutes per game.

While Guenther’s loan to Team Canada wasn’t exactly shocking news, it also wasn’t the lock that Clarke and Wright’s loans appeared to be. PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan had a chance to discuss Guenther with Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong, who said he wanted to see how prospects performed “under fire.” Armstrong continued, “[y]ou like to see them in those pressure situations because you find out a lot about them and they really tend to grow for them.” The GM cited two of his former St. Louis Blues players, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, who were sent to the World Juniors, and the impact the experience had on their development.

  • After it was reported yesterday that Aleksander Barkov was expected to return today from a bout with pneumonia, the Florida Panthers confirmed their captain would play tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. Adding the superstar back into the lineup will no doubt give Florida, who went 2-3-2 in his absence, a big boost. Still, illness will continue to hold them back. The team announced that goaltender Spencer Knight and forward Anton Lundell are both missing tonight’s game with non-COVID illnesses.
  • NHL.com’s Mark Divver wonders if the Boston Bruins termination of Victor Berglund’s contract could pave the way to an NHL contract for forward Luke Toporowski. As Divver points out, this will leave the Bruins with 47 contracts, perhaps enough flexibility to add one back in that of Toporowski. NHL teams are allowed to carry a maximum of 50 contracts within the organization, but generally prefer to stay away from having 50, or even 49, in order to give them flexibility in certain situations. Divver adds there is interest from other teams in Toporowski, but Boston has exclusive rights with him until January 1st, and even thereafter can match any other offer Toporowski accepts. A product of both the WHL and USHL, Toporowski went undrafted but signed on with the Providence Bruins this offseason after scoring 35 goals in just 49 games between the Spokane Chiefs and Kamloops Blazers last season. The 21-year-old has 17 points in 21 AHL games so far this season.

Shane Wright Loaned To Team Canada For World Juniors

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Dec 8: As expected, the Kraken have officially loaned Wright to Team Canada.

Dec 7: Seattle Kraken top prospect Shane Wright is expected to report to Team Canada’s selection camp for the 2023 World Junior Championship tomorrow, per TSN’s Darren Dreger.

When Wright wasn’t named to Canada’s selection camp roster announced Monday, some eyebrows were raised. But Canada could not add him to their roster until the Kraken loaned him there, and after the team’s plan of getting Wright back into a game after his AHL conditioning stint, it appears that’s exactly what Seattle will do.

The 2022 fourth-overall pick scored his first NHL goal last night, making it two points in eight games with the Kraken. Appearing in five games with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, he sniped four goals in just five games, proving he belongs in professional hockey.

Yet the Kraken don’t have a choice in where they send him long-term this year: it’s either the NHL or juniors, given his age and the NHL-CHL transfer agreement. Given Wright’s limited role on the team, and with Seattle sitting pretty in a playoff spot, it seems Wright is destined to return to junior hockey when the tournament concludes.

Wright joins an offense loaded with talent, including defenseman Brandt Clarke, who was loaned to Team Canada by the Los Angeles Kings just hours ago.

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